The grandkids came over today to play with trains. They wanted to learn something new. Amanda, the, 8YO, built a barn, her first building, and made a little diorama. She borrowed the house from the layout until she can build a second structure next week. She got a kick out of WS reeds and fur weeds. She wanted those cows because they were like the ones her other grandpa had.
Matt who is 12 wanted to build a tank and have a military diorama. This was his first structure and moderatly advanced for him. He thought it should be muddy. He started to carve the foam for the land and discovered that takes a while. We a had a good time.
What a treat, Art. I had the 4 year old granddaughter in town a couple of weeks ago… knew the HO stuff was probably too delicate for her, so drug out an old Lionel 3-Rail set and set it up. She spent hours loading people, boxes, cows, you name it into the gondolas and flat cars and using the old fashioned Juliatrax sound… whoooo whoooo. Man, those old 3-railers roll FAST! Oh, grandpa liked it just fine too.[;)]
ART, sounds like you might be a little found of those grandkids… They are some good-lookin kids, glad to see you can still have fun without stars LOL Have fun Mike
That’s great getting the grandchildren involved like that. It warms the heart, it does. My oldest granddaughter got interested in my layout around age 5 or 6. By the time she was your granddaughter’s age, she was building structures and painting them and doing scenery. When she was about 9 y.o. she painted a bunch of unpainted N scale figures for me, and did a really good job. Her eyes and hands are better at stuff like that than my old ones. She has become very good at scenery work, and I often turn to her for advice as she has strong artistic talents and has an eye for what looks good and what doesn’t. She’s a teenager now but she still likes to work on scenery on my layout when she visits. Tracklaying and wiring don’t interest her at all. I hope you enjoy working with your grandkids on your layout as much as I enjoy working with my granddaughter on mine.
